Tears Will Fall
by Youkai Zeta
Summary: For whatever reason they appeared and Shiganshina ran red with blood. For whatever their lives were worth they ran and now for everything they took from them, for the part of their lives they robbed, they must pay. Every single one of them must pay. Even if they lose it all Ryan and Eren will make them pay.
1. Chapter 1 Reason

TEARS WILL FALL.

 _ **Chapter 1- Reason.**_

Year 845, that day, mankind received a grim reminder. We were forced to understand the truth, the truth that we'd so readily chosen to forget, the terror of admitting that whatever we did we would remain subservient to them, the humiliation of being trapped in cages that we are forced to call home. The reminder was that we lived in fear of the Titans, and forced to call these walls, these cages home.

Ryan Yeager could see it in Eren's eyes, the hatred that was emerging, and the abhorrence that was budding. Ryan could feel the wood under his feet creaking as his little brother stood up and slowly shuffled to the edge of the ship. He could feel his rage flaring off him as he watched Shiganshina, his home fade away, knowing he'd never come back, never come back home. Ryan bowed his head in sadness as the memory flashed before his eyes.

He remembered the deafening silence and the chill that ran down his spine as the howling wind came to a sudden stop, he remembered the golden lightning shooting from the sky and hitting the ground, the arid ground beneath them shook and rumbled, he remembered being blown into stairs he, Eren, Mikasa and Armin had gathered at. Vague silhouettes that Ryan could only guess were people came out of the neighboring houses and some pointed at the sky, gasping in astonishment. He remembered seeing his siblings bolt off to the end of the alley, the alley which brought one only a mile or two away from the end of wall Maria. He stood up, still dazed, and charged after them ignoring the searing pain in his neck.

He got to the end of the crowded alley, and looked up to where Armin stared blankly, frozen in horror and what he could only guess was uncertainty. Ryan squinted, there was something enveloped in the thick smoke, something that was moving. Then the smoke cleared…

Ryan gasped in terror, as he saw the hand that was holding onto the wall, he watched, terrified, as that section of the wall, Wall Maria, cracked under the pressure of the hand, he looked on as the hand's grip on the wall tightened. The hand was like a human's completely, except, the hand lacked skin.

"Im…." Armin said. Ryan kept staring; he was too stunned to look at him in the face. "Impossible that wall…that wall is fifty meters high."

There was a deafening silence, as if what had been there had immediately disappeared, not a single bird chirped in the sky. It was just deadly silence.

Ryan gawped as a head emerged from the remaining clouds of smoke. Ryan stared on scared stiff; the monster's shadow went right over them, his teal eyes widened when the neck and shoulders of the beast became visible, the skinless monstrosity gazed upon the city, grinning amusedly with his hundreds of teeth.

Horrified screams filled the air, yet Ryan heard his twin speak under his shaky breath."It's one of them," his eyes widened "A Titan."

 _Titans, the Titans had come, after a hundred years they were here._

The Titan moved and its foot came crashing through the gates at the bottom, the gathered citizens covered their ears but the sound was nowhere near muffled. The debris of the wall shot off and collided into buildings and crushed people, the faint sound of snapping bones could be heard from where they were standing, the pools of blood could be seen from the distance. People scattered in panic dashing for the opposite gates, screaming at the top of their lungs, as giant naked people that looked as human as anyone walked in through the hole in the wall with wide disconcerting grins on their faces. Ryan suddenly felt heavy as if someone had strapped an anvil to him. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

The panicked voice of Armin rang in his ears. "Ryan!" he yelled, tugging at his arm now, "We have to go."

Ryan shook his head and looked in Eren's direction, and looked at his adopted sister Mikasa's face that had turned a deadly pale. Eren and Mikasa slowly moved forward, eyes widened, Ryan stretched his hand forward, ready to scream at Eren to go in the opposite direction, just then he realized what both of them had been looking at, the pathway that was a few meters from the wall that was covered in fallen debris from the wall, their home.

Mom.

He rushed in that direction without thought. There wasn't much to think about, he ran through the now crimson streets.

A man paced about in the middle of the town square, with a bible in his hands, yelling, preaching of strength to a panicked audience who held hands and stood in the circle a few feet away from him. He quaked in his boots as he stammered what was meant to be a reassuring prayer, he looked up in horror and gasped as a titan reached down and grabbed him. He struggled to get free, but to no avail, Ryan watched as the bible fell out of the man's hand and landed with a thud, he kept his eyes forward on the path and ran as fast as his legs could carry him and his younger twin did the same.

Ryan fought his feeling of nausea as he hurdled over the dead bodies that lay on the streets in pools of blood; his fear grew as he saw a woman trying to roll a boulder off her son as her daughter sobbed helplessly clutching her doll.

He raced on. In front of him, a giant hand reached down, pulling a woman by the head from the ruins, the beast brought it closer to its mouth, the woman kicked, her little feet grazing the giant's teeth as it lowered her down, the Titan bit off her lower half and swallowed it whole and then tossed the rest of her into his mouth casually. Blood trickled from the giant's lips.

It's okay.

It's going to be fine.

Mom probably went out to look for us.

I'm going to turn left here and our house will be there like always…

He gasped and raced forward, passing Eren and Mikasa as they screamed in unison. "Mom!"

Their house, it had been crushed under a boulder, the roof had caved in and dust rose in a huge cloud. There was nothing but ruin.

"Mom!" He heard Eren shout, and then he saw her, his mother, Kalura Yeager a lovely looking woman with long brown hair, that framed her beautiful light skinned face, and an apron, now drenched in blood, Eren knelt on his knees in front of her, watching in shock her, body lay under a pile of ruins, she was trapped under a pillar Then she groaned, letting them know she was conscious, her eyes opened and she looked up at Eren, and then turned her head to face us. "Eren, Mikasa, Ryan!" She tried to get up, but her body dropped back onto the ground.

"What are you waiting for…?" Eren screamed, his voice going octaves higher than usual and tears streaming down his face. "Help me get her out of here." "Ryan, Mikasa." He screamed "We have to get this pillar off her! Help me!"

Ryan bent down with Mikasa and stuck his hands beneath the pillar, feeling for something he could hold onto. He found something and looked at Eren and Mikasa to see if they were ready, they both nodded and with that he gathered up all of his strength and tried to lift the pillar off his mother. The sound of footsteps in the distance scared Ryan, but he continued. They all continued even as their fingers bled.

The ground shook beneath them; Ryan opened his eyes to see the titan in the distance.

This can't be happening.

"The Titans, the titans are here aren't they?" His mother said panting "Eren, Ryan take Mikasa and get out of here now."

That would have been the rational option, to leave her there and head for the gate out of Shiganshina, he knew, Mikasa knew, Eren knew that was the sensible option, they could get out of this place safely, she was right.

"We're getting out of here together." Eren hollered "We aren't leaving you here!"

She shook her head, smiling gently as if she knew this would come.

"Eren you don't understand." She said calmly, tears starting to flow "My legs have been crushed by the debris." Eren gasped in horror "Even if you did manage to get me out, I couldn't run."

Eren snapped at her. "Then I'll carry you, I don't care how slow we'll be, we will make it out of here somehow!" Tears streaked down his face.

"You are coming with us, mom and that's final!" Ryan said, glaring at her with a cold determination that was almost…scary.

"Why can't you both just listen to me, just this once?"She cried, as tears went down her face. "Just do this one last thing!"

Just then Ryan thought back, to the countless arguments about wanting to join the military and fighting the titans, to the constant bickering and yelling, to the incessant words of caution. She was right; he and Eren were only ten years old, wanting to throw away their lives to see what lay outside these walls, he admitted, was somewhat irrational and he understood that his mother just didn't want to lose either one or both of them, it was why she'd asked Mikasa, their sister, to protect both him and Eren and stop them should their tendency for doing stupid things kick in. He understood fine. He knew Eren understood. That is why neither of them wanted this to be goodbye, which is why they needed to save her. They didn't want a squabble as a final memory.

That _wasn't_ going to happen.

"You are coming with us!" Ryan screamed "Eren, Mikasa, put your backs into it!"

The footsteps of the titan were louder in Ryan's ears, and he could feel the ground shake beneath him. But fear no longer held him in its grasp. He kept right on trying to lift the beam off his mother; he could see that Mikasa and Eren were determined to do the same.

The sound of air being released went through the air; Ryan turned his head to look, Hanne, a member of the watch guard of the military, and a close friend of the Yeagers walked calmly toward them as if preparing to face an enemy. Hannes was a tall, well built man with very short blonde hair, a thin dark moustache, and golden hazel eyes. What was he doing out here? Ryan knew that the rest of his comrades were stationed at the outer gate so why was he here alone?

"Hanne" She said, she looked into his eyes and was slightly taken aback by the determination but she said "Don't you dare think about killing that thing, take the kids and get out of here!"

He closed his eyes and smiled reassuringly, "Don't take me so lightly Kalura" he said, and he opened his eyes and charged forward "I'll slaughter that thing and save every one of you."

Ryan kept his head low and tried harder to lift the beam off her, looking at her, with a reassuring smile. This was why he and his brother wanted to join the military to fight for the sake of humanity, to give them freedom in the future. True, Hanne was a drunkard but Ryan thought even guys like him had their moments of glory and this was going to be his. He was going to prove his worth as a soldier; he was going to show what it meant to bear that title.

Hanne, with a scared look on his face, tossed a blade to the ground and it glistened in the sunlight a few feet from where he was kneeling. Ryan looked up to see a shocked Eren trying to shake himself free from Hanne's shoulder and Mikasa under his arm. His legs, they were shaking wildly.

"P-Pick it up," he said, his breath was shaky.

Ryan did as he asked and watched as he rushed off in the direction, "Run boy,"

Ryan turned and looked at his mom's face.

"Don't start this," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "Ryan, please run, live. Protect your brother and sister. Please, this one last time, listen to me and run. You can't stay here, that thing will devour both of us. Please go."

He cried, tears streamed down his face, but with that he turned, with the blade in his hand. "I love you." He heard her say this before he rushed off to join them. He fought the urge to look back and kept his head low as he heard the rustling behind him.

Don't do it Ryan, Don't do it.

Tears flowed down his face as he sped to catch up with them. He could hear his brother screaming in the distance as he closed the gap.

"Stop! No! Put her down! Please!" his voice shot up octaves higher.

He knew what was happening behind him. He knew that was what she wanted. So he didn't look back, he forced himself not to look back, he kept right on, charging straight at them trying to maintain a safe distance. As the tears ran down his cheeks, he ran on and decided to move forward and not look back, because she was right, it was high-time he listened to her, high time he did what she wanted.

….

Eren was sure there was no way he could forgive that thing for taking away his home, and more importantly his mom. But now that they were on the ship heading for Trost in Wall Rose, one thing just didn't sit right with him. Why had his brother stopped him when he attacked Hanne?

He remembered it clearly, he remembered Hanne setting him down in front of the gate, and he remembered kicking him and yelling.

"You could have saved her." He said as he threw a punch that Hanne caught with ease. "So why didn't you?" He remembered the tears that were flowing from his eyes, the anger that coursed through his veins and the genuine intent in his mind to kill the fucking bastard. "So why didn't you?" Eren cried "Answer me!"

He clenched his fist and tried to punch him again, knowing of the futility of the situation but deciding not to care.

Just then he spoke.

"You know why Eren?" Ryan said as he came panting with a blade in his hand that was now blunt. "Because, mom didn't want to be saved."

"She did!" Eren yelled angrily. "She wanted…"

"Eren, I know you're angry, but think." Ryan said calmly "Should Mom have come with us, we'd all die, it was either her or all of us she didn't want that. Hanne was scared; you can't blame him for that. In the end he did what he had to…"

"Shut up!" Eren yelled, drawing in heavy breaths "You're talking as if she's not your mother as if you didn't know her."

Ryan suddenly had a shocked look on his face, as if he finally realized what was going on. But he spoke calmly, almost coldly.

"Eren, pay attention, you have no right to attack Hanne." He said."Mom gave him a simple task, and that was to save us. Killing that titan, it seemed brave but it was actually stupid. I ran here, dodging boulders and running in meander patterns trying to stay alive, just as Hanne did with you. If mom came along, there were going to be two outcomes, either she dies or we all die, and we would have to live with it anyway."

Eren sat down with his head between his legs and screamed, knowing that what his twin was saying made sense felt like he was throwing away his humanity. By understanding his words, he felt like he was becoming a monster by accepting reason.

"She didn't deserve to die!" He rasped, "She didn't deserve to die!"

Ryan went up to his brother and bent over, tears streamed down his face. "I know."

Now as they were on that boat and he cried, he looked out into the horizon as the city slowly drifted away. He was angry, enraged, furious. Those monsters had taken away his home and his mom. Dad, who'd left earlier today, would probably think they were dead. Today the Titans had made him lose so much and for that, for the tears that he had shed, for the tears that he saw flow down Ryan's face, for Mikasa bland expression of shock for his mother. These Titans were going to pay.

"I will kill the titans." He rasped coldly, with his teeth gritted and his eyes full of hate. "Every single fucking one."

…

 **So this chapter draws to a close, I decided to skip the entire introduction and bring it in later because I felt that Wall Maria was never that grand a place to deserve such a peaceful beginning. There will be a grand change of plot but it will still be the Shingeki no Kyojin you know. Review and tell me how you like the twin so far and the story. Feel free to be bashful and tell me how to improve.**

 **Youkai Zeta.**


	2. Chapter 2 Chances

_**Chapter 2- Chances**_

"Do you understand?" A deep voice echoed in the tight space where she stood.

At this point she guessed it was a formality to say yes, the truth was she didn't understand and honestly she didn't want to. She thought she was making it clear with the emotionless expression that she didn't and did not want to care. Sanguinely speaking out of idiocy would have landed her in serious trouble and the kind of leverage he had, the possibility that…

She had to keep her thoughts together in order to get what she wanted. She had little choice in the matter anyway. The answer yes would suffice. And she'd complete the mission on her own terms anyway. That was how she, for the short period that she'd been working for this guy had done it anyway. She didn't need to force herself to comprehend his terms because frankly they were of now relevance to her. As long as the job was done she was going to get what she wanted.

She bowed on one knee and spoke. "Yes."

Her hand was touching the ground and with that her mind came to one conclusion; she needed to get out of this damp and dark place. And soon enough that time would come. She couldn't fail.

 _You'll be free, once again. I promise._

…..

The wind blew calmly, as the knells rang at the top of the tower. Mikasa looked over a sleeping Eren and watched as his eyes began to twitch violently. Sweat beaded his forehead. Then she remembered when she was like this. The fear she felt on that day. The sadness that grasped her as she tried to accept the reality of the fact that they were dead, trying to find some sort of way to bend this harsh reality, then forgetting the fact that she was a girl, that she was human. She knew what Eren was going through all too well; she was living through it a second time but this time there was something to salvage. Eren, Armin, Ryan. The last of her family were still alive. In this cruel world they had to survive, they were going to survive no matter what and she was going to make sure of that.

Eren's eyes opened, fearful eyes moved around in his socket until he looked up at Mikasa. Then the fear in them faded away and Mikasa watched as sadness crept in them, as if seeing her made him sure of the fact that the dream that he had yesterday wasn't a dream. Eren sat up on the cold floor and turned to look at Mikasa, he had a bland expression on his face that was much like the one Mikasa always wore on her face.

"Where's Ryan?" He asked, yet his voice seemed different, angry and cold.

Mikasa was taken aback by this but she kept her calm, from the look in his eyes he was angry but she couldn't judge him. That was no time for objectivity. It wasn't the time for resolve or hard truths and Ryan knew it. That wasn't the time to defend fear and cowardice. True, Ryan was the more mature one of the two but Hanne had made a mistake to him as well as to Eren. He could have saved them Kalura so why didn't he? Why did Ryan choose to accept the fact that their mother was dead so quickly? Why did he sound like that answer was something he'd been prepared to say all along? Why, at that moment was he so ready to accept the futility of the situation? She knew why he was angry and any objection to his anger would prove useless as she knew he wouldn't listen.

"He's going to get our rations. Armin's grandfather took them." She answered ignoring his glares. He nodded and stood up. Ryan appeared from a distance he could see him in his dark shirt and brown slacks with the yellow sash around his waist. He walked over to him and asked Mikasa if he was okay. Eren stayed silent and looked into his brother's teal green eyes with a look on his face, one of anger and gratitude for his concern.

"Ask him." Mikasa said brashly.

He wanted to but Ryan knew it was hard for him to understand why his own twin would do that and Ryan knew that there was no justification for defending Hanne's, a soldier who had the chance to do his duty and failed. But now his brother was all he had and he couldn't have Eren be mad at him.

"Eren, are you okay?" He asked

Silence.

That was better than he had hoped.

Mikasa walked past them and proceeded downstairs and Eren followed. Ryan called after him, trying to at least make sure his brother still considered him family.

"What?"

The fact that he answered to Ryan meant that he did, desperation may had been sinking in but he knew Eren still thought he was family.

"I'm sorry." He said, he had bowed his head, trying to avoid making eye contact because he knew that while sorry confirmed his importance to Eren it did not fix anything.

"I know you are." Eren said, calmly and walked off after Mikasa.

…..

Armin needed to get these to Eren and the others fast, but for some reason he couldn't forget that look of disgust on the soldiers face when his grandfather had asked for four loaves of bread for the children and the anger in his expression when the soldier sharing out these rations had agreed to that. He understood why but didn't feel that he deserved any of it.

In the West district of Trost where they were now in wall Rose there were already huge food shortages and now that the government decided to take the survivors of Wall Maria to Wall Rose, the place now had two thousand more mouths to feed and waste resources on when they could barely make it on their own.

Armin looked up to see an old man walking beside him. His blonde hair had many wisps of grey strands. He kept his hair in a ponytail and his beard was already gray. He smelled of pungent flowers from gardening in Wall Maria and his dark eyes had a sad expression in them.

"Grandpa." Armin said in shock.

"Armin" His grandfather answered weakly "It should have been me."

Armin gasped when he realized what he was talking about. When they were running from the Titans in Wall Maria. When his mother and father had pushed him out of the way of the flying debris and got crushed in his stead. He remembered the horror, and the fear as they were crushed by the boulder and his grandfather carried him on his shoulder.

There was silence for a moment. Then…

"It was their sacrifice to make, to protect you and me. We wouldn't be alive if it weren't for them. Our lives were worth something to them and I think that should it have been you they would've said the same thing,

"Mama and papa died to save you just three days ago, lament and regret won't solve anything instead let's try to make sure we survive for them."

"Okay, Armin." He said, "Let's survive this cruel world for them."

….

That day Ryan watched as the tears streamed down Hannes' face. Mikasa and Eren had left a couple of minutes earlier and were heading for the docks. He'd finally realized that he needed to get it together and head for the docks as well but now that Hannes was shedding tears he felt sorry for him. Never had he seen a grown man cry like this, yelling loudly, and begging for forgiveness from a child "Ryan, please forgive me… I couldn't…I couldn't save you mother because I was scared for my own life."

"Eren was right!" He said as tears flowed down his cheeks."She didn't deserve to die. Not like this. You could have saved her. I defended you because that's what my mom would want, for us to see things from her point of view but at this point there's no reason to. Eren was right, he's been right this whole fucking day. You'll just have us living like livestock. Weak, defenseless, cowardly. So much so that we can't even protect the ones we love." He cried and stormed off.

Remembering this, he realized she really was gone. And the last thing he did for her was a forced act of compliance, of all things to have lost that day why his mother? Why the one thing he or someone could have protected? That was the one thought that haunted him. If he could have protected her. Why didn't he?

"His eyes, His eyes." A kid doubled back in fear. "That kid's eyes they've changed."

…..

She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, she opened it and stared at it quietly, then sighed.

"I swear" She said, "You'll be free."

…..

 _ **So that ended chapter 2. I welcome flamers with an open heart and mind. I also welcome people who approve of this story. A lot is explained here if you read the other chapter. Feel free to be critical and be objective I don't like liars at all.**_


	3. Chapter 3 Extemes

_**Chapter 3 – Extremes**_

Over a century ago mankind faced a new enemy, one that made us understand the cruelty of this world, one that made us feel weak and insignificant, because to them we were, there was little known about this enemy, this enemy that couldn't be rivaled, nothing had been discovered except for the means to rid ourselves of them. Yet these enemies seemed more like the human's retribution than its threat.

These enemies had forced humanity to stay behind walls for safety, walls that we had built so we could see tomorrow in vain hope that when we stepped out they would not be around to threaten us. These walls Maria, Rose, Sina, Each one gave the weak the hope of survival, and the strong a guarantee that what they fought for was good enough to return home to. Now Maria, the first and closest wall to the outside world was no more, for the enemies that we thought that our ancestors had shut away behind these walls had once again returned.

Eren sat at the top of a small hill and start blankly in the distance. He sat there with his head between his legs, and silently. The calm blowing in his face gave him reassurance that at least, here, everything was peaceful, calm and strangely serene. Sweat beaded his forehead as he shuddered and then let out a soft cackle out of what he knew was pure rage.

"One day, I swear I'll kill every last one of you." He said rasping through his teeth. "Then the world would be like this small place."

That place, that grassy field he'd sat in every day, he knew there were only a few of the places like these left in the world, he knew there were others outside the walls. Maria was gone but Rose and Sina still stood, and Eren knew that one day, he'd break free of the prisons his race had been forced to call home. One day he'd see vast fields of sand and great salt water bodies. One day he'd see them all and satisfy his curiosity. If these titans were all that stood in his way he'd just go right through them. He remembered reading somewhere in his dad's research books that the titans were mindless

…..

Ryan watched as the boy on the street pointed at him, he remembered seeing the look on the kid's face on Eren's face all too well. The kid was quaking in his shoes, and sweat trickled down his forehead. He was doubling back fearfully as if he'd seen a titan.

No.

He looked like he'd seen something scarier, although he didn't know what could possibly be worse than seeing a titan to an eight year old boy. Ryan guessed that was about his age. He shook as if he was freezing, he could feel the fear coming from him in small hot waves, and even though he was on the other side of a crowded street; he'd finally decided to acknowledge. Ryan took a step closer to the boy, and watched as he trembled fiercely. Ryan looked closer at the boy, he was dressed in dark slacks and a brown shirt, and he wore a black sash that bound his shirt to his slacks and brown sandals that were open toed. From his clothes, Ryan guessed he lived closer to the interior, just a few miles from Wall Sina, so what was he doing all the way out here? He looked up at his dark eyes full of fear. His olive skin complemented his clothes. His hair was parted in the middle much like he and Eren.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Ryan asked quizzically.

"N...No" he stammered.

The kid took a deep breath and tried to recollect his thoughts, long enough for him to run away. Ryan knew that because he'd seen that face he was making before many times on Armin.

"What are you doing here?"

He slowly backed further into the street, it was early afternoon, people were lined up in front of stalls and kiosks buying god knows what and doing whatever, in the corner of his eye Ryan could see people walking with baskets on their arms and some with heavy blocks of stone on their heads everywhere. He tried to close his ears to all the shouting but he couldn't, suddenly he wondered how long he'd been day dreaming for, and what this brat meant.

He took a deep breath and asked again, a little calmly this time, he figured the kid at least deserved that, considering he had just scared him shitless, even though he didn't know how.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan realizing that he stood directly over the kid stepped back and allowed him some room. He could see tears welling up in his eyes and scoffed.

He decided to skip the pleasantries and get to the point "What did you mean my eyes changed?"

The kid looked around for somebody, somebody to run to, as far as he knew the guy in front of him wasn't normal and he wanted to act on natural instinct, he wanted to run like hell, the guy in front of him looked normal now with dark brown hair and teal green eyes like he remembered he had, but then when they changed. They became dark narrow slits with small pure white pupils inside them. His eyes looked demonic, with the subtle cracks in them. He needed to run now. He knew the guy was asking questions, or cursing at him. He was not really sure. Frankly he couldn't hear anything over the sound on his little heart pounding in his chest.

Was he going to eat him?

He could feel his legs urging him to run, he'd wet his shirt with his own sweat now he needed to run.

"Hey kid!" Ryan snapped.

Right then the kid took off running away from him into the crowd of people; he sped straight down the road, bumping into people and tumbling over pots and pans and water containers.

Ryan shrugged. He was sure he didn't look that scary anyway.

…..

Mikasa had been staring at the temple for the past half hour studying everything about it. It was a relatively small temple, built of grey brick and set in a small valley, overlooking the eastern wall tower of Wall Rose, the grey bricks used to build this temple, Mikasa noticed had been carefully laid on top of each other, it stood roughly seventeen feet high.

She knew it was a Wallist temple, Kalura had once mentioned fanatics who had worshipped the walls as gods, and built numerous temples in the three walls, they had the belief that the walls were the gift of God sent to be the messengers and protectors of the human race, brought to serve as protection from the retribution that humans deserved. At the bottom of the temple, Zana they called it was a staircase that led inside. Mikasa counted the possibility that she could rue going in there but she needed to. The camp they were staying at, where Eren was was about a mile or two behind her and it would be dark soon. But she needed to do this.

She started going up the stairs and went on. She walked up the dark stairs and kept on silently, she walked gracefully and without a sound, until she reached a door. She pushed the door opened and walked into the candle lit room. Candles were lit everywhere in the room and a choir that stood in front of a wall sang a melancholy song that sounded like an archaic lullaby.

She took a deep breath as the singing stopped and everyone in the choir turned to glare at her. Red carpets were laid all around the floors of the room she looked up at the wall behind them and saw the banner of Wall Rose on the wall, a red flag with a lady wearing a laurel on her head, looking to the left. A priest kneeling down in front of an altar of leaves continued to pray ignoring the distraction and the fact the choir had stopped singing, despite the fact that despite the look that Mikasa saw he was bothered.

The priest was a middle age man with wisps of grey hair growing on the sides of his long hair which he kept in a mullet, around his hand there was a necklace made of beads he clutched tightly while murmuring his prayers; his face was thin and young

She proceeded to the altar despite the looks and knelt down and put her hands together.

"Little girl" The priest spoke hoarsely "Why do you interrupt a prayer to the Almighty Wall Rose?"

"I have a family." She replied nonchalantly, as if the answer was acceptable.

"Do not soil the sacred ground with your garments."

She looked up at him, and glared at him "My family is all I have" She spoke abrasively "So I am going to pray to every god ever made, ever known, to protect them, they are the last left. So I don't care if you treasure a pile of stones. I _will_ pray to her."

The priest looked at her in complete astonishment. He took a deep breath and looked at the choir and nodded for them to carry on with the song. Then he put his hand on her shoulder and said.

"I'm Father Ross Seakes, and who are you?"

"I'm Mikasa Ackerman."

"Was your father Braise Ackerman?" He asked

Mikasa taken aback reluctantly answered. "Yes"

 _ **So that concludes chapter 3, I am sorry I have not been posting regularly as I promised I've been working my butt off since June and I barely get time to write. Anyway, tell me what you think. Again, Flamers are welcome. Liars are not.**_


	4. Chapter 4 Subtlety

_**Chapter 4- Subtlety**_

His laugh was completely devoid of mirth, and it sounded more like cold cackling rather than anything else. He stood unscathed, but with tattered clothes and a bruised face. He clutched his stomach and tightened his grip around it, trying to douse the pain in his gut right now.

"Freud Landforth." With that, the cacophonous laughter ceased. "So, that's his name." His expression morphed into one of sincere happiness. "Interesting"

His attention turned to the kid in front of him, he had been on the ground for too long, he could see his facial muscles twitching because of the pain the kid was probably feeling right now. He was sweating, funny; it was like he was trying not to show fear. And his face, so uncertain, so lost, so mistrustful, how he longed for the days of his youth again, yes his youth when they told him stories of a man who was stupid enough to step outside the walls. The kid, yes he was a kid. The kid's loyalty was something he could treasure but there was something he wanted to know, something he needed to confirm, was this kid doing this because his servitude was forced upon him or because he wanted to. At any rate, he would find out soon enough.

….

Armin's fears would not go away, that was the burden of thinking about things logically; once you have something to worry about, fear sets in and dire consequences start to swarm your head in a rapid overflow. Eren, Mikasa, Ryan, Grandpa, himself, home, the people. How many things did he have to worry about? He was small and frail and before this did not understand any concept of bravery, he knew when it really mattered he would need to fight for all these people one day.

He was not strong enough; he was scared he could not be. And although it had just been a few days, what if that day he was not ready? What if that day when it would matter, he would be as weak as he was now? What if that day he was still small, frail, dependant on the very people who needed him?

….

"Rod!" He yelled coldly, and with a stern expression. He'd been outside the castle gate yelling that name for hours, he was growing impatient. The castle walls were thirty feet high, in accurate estimation. If he'd used that he could easily…

No.

He buried his face in his hands and screamed, his entire body trembled with rage.

He needed to come out. He needed to come out. Ignoring him wasn't going to fix anything; he needed to come out.

"Rod, you wretched ass!" he spoke "You knew, you knew the wall was going to fall, you knew!" He trembled violently now "I could have saved them, I could have saved them all." He fell to his knees and clutched blades of glass, tears streamed down his pale face. He was stricken with fear; he could feel his body giving in to the rage. He clenched his fist and punched the ground in agitation, pounding on and on and on until his knuckles bled.

"I swear…" He rasped "I'll kill you, Rod! Screw your city, fuck your title. Fuck all the crap I've taken from you. Right now, Right here and now I'll kill you!"

….

So this was Braise's child. She looked like that lady from the orient, that lady that Braise left the Survey Corps for. She looked so much like her, she had his gentle eyes though, those gentle eyes that reassured Seakes once. But what was wrong with her, her eyes were fearless and devoid of emotion. As he prayed he worried for her sake and safety.

"Lady Rose," he prayed "our divine arbitrator, keep us safe, keep us close to the world and let the bonds we have made on earth remain untouched. Protect those we love, protect our now and protect our future and do not let fear have us in its clutches again. Amen."

He stood up from the carpet and aided the child to rise. His old friend was here, if she was here then that meant that he was here.

"Where's your father?" He asked rather enthusiastically, forgetting that he needed to keep his calm.

"Dead." She said without remorse or sadness in her voice, she didn't twitch. She just stood there as if she had come to terms with the fact that her father was dead.

"Come again please?" He said scratching the back of his head. He was taken aback.

"Papa is dead." Again, she'd said this morosely, bluntly and without emotion.

"For how long?" He asked.

"I don't want to remember." She said this sharply and coldly

"So what did you mean when you said you had to pray for family?"

"I was adopted after his death, and that family has suffered the same fate, I have two adoptive brothers and a friend, they are all I have."

She was depressingly honest, much like her father was. The petulant little man always found a way to make his life a pain with that honesty of his. He'd saved him from being eaten by a titan many times. Braise had literally protected him on every mission they had been on and each time he'd saved him from being eaten, then made it clear that he did not like having to do that all the time.

Ross Seakes left the Survey Corps because he was terrified and joined the Wallist movement for practically the same reason, priest or not he did not believe in any of this stuff, thinking about it logically, a wall no matter how thick, was a wall and the fact that it had stood in place for over a century with continuous mending did not give it much of a right to be classified as divine. The walls, whether given names or not were still walls.

He looked into the little girl's eyes, and tried to guess how old she might have been, ten, or eleven not older than twelve. The girl, and it seemed creepy to say this, but she had this aura of power around her, the way she looked up at him, with a straight face and stern expression, her dark eyes staring deeply into his. She stood straight, like a natural born soldier. Her long dark hair was now the only form of evidence that Seakes had to prove she was a girl. She looked at him with a banal expression and despite the look; he could tell that she shared the same curiosity as he at the moment.

Breathe Seakes.

The question then was why she was here then, the orient was a separate part of the walls that stood on its own, far, way too far from Wall Rose for her to have come without a good reason, and her mother would not bring her on such a long trip.

"Where is your mother?" He asked gently. At this point in time it was clear he could barely conceal the pity he felt for the kid.

"She is also dead." Mikasa replied bowing down her head.

 _Well everything is just peachy now, isn't it?_

Both parents were dead; the child must have thought that the world was cruel. He needed to show her that it would be better and although he did not know how he would explain it to a little kid, show her that this had happened for a reason. He felt it was his obligation, after all Braise would have done the same for his child if he had any.

"Child," he called softly, and watched as Mikasa tilted her head to see directly into his eyes "Would you stay with me, at my home? It is the least I could do after your father had saved me so many times."

Mikasa bowed her head, and clutched her robe; she looked like she was contemplating the offer. Seakes smiled, happy that at least in some small way he could repay Braise for all the things he'd done for him.

He stared at the child's face wondering if she would accept.

…

"Eren, come with me!" Ryan yelled after his brother, watching as he played in the fields, the serenity of garden was almost surreal. He didn't want to leave himself but it would be getting dark soon. They needed to go home. Mom was making smoked fished with bread rolls and she'd promised if they'd made it home early she would give them extra helpings. Mikasa of course, approached this with her natural indifference and Armin had gone home just a few minutes before on his own. There was nothing to worry about, he would make it home quickly and hopefully avoid the bullies.

Still, Ryan could not bring himself to care. His stomach was grumbling and the firewood on his back was starting to get heavy. He needed to leave for the smoked fish. The smoked fish was all he cared about.

He remembered this quite often, and upon each reminiscing he would conjure up more reasons that urged him to leave. Then right after that memory Armin's voice would echo in his head, as if he were screaming from a distance.

"These walls," He would say "They will not hold us forever." Those were his exact words before the Titans attacked, those monsters charged into Wall Maria like a plague of locusts, consuming everyone.

He remembered home, that little home that had a little space just for him. That little space he'd turned into a fortress of solitude, reading about everything and not speaking to anyone in the family except on matters of necessity. Suddenly he wished he hadn't been so pensive. So lost in thought to talk to his mother, so lost in his own world to talk much to his little brother, Eren had always been simplistic but he was a good conversationalist and that was something he'd observed from afar.

Damn it.

He'd tried to keep away for so long, no wonder Eren didn't want to talk to him.

He stared into the distance; the other Yeager had been sitting at the bottom of a hill with his head in between his head. Never had he seen him so glum and lost like he was now.

"Eren!" He called loudly. His brother did not turn, he did not move. He ran down the hill, silently praying that his brother was not angry. He murmured a plea to…whatever and whoever there was, hoping that that thing or person would curb Eren's anger towards him right now. When he got there he sat next to his brother and smiled weakly. He tapped him on his shoulder trying to get his attention. Eren lifted his head. Ryan doubled back in shock. His face was different, his eyes were bloodshot and wide with rage, and tears welled up in his eyes, his face had now developed tear troughs that went all the way down to his cheek bones, his knees were wet and his body shook violently, his fists were clenched and the smile, that smile…that smile he was wearing was sadistic, and almost insipid. Ryan shifted in the grass, and then took a deep breath.

"What?" He rasped.

Ryan for a fleeting moment realized that was how the kid was feeling.

"You have been crying yourself to sleep these past few days." Ryan replied, "Haven't you?"

"Suddenly, you have decided to be my big brother." Eren said, standing up and looking down at his brother.

Ryan ignored that. "So you have." He said with genuine concern, and then he stood up and looked at his brother in the face.

"What d'you care?" He said "You let Hannes take us! Mikasa and I, You let the fucking coward stop us from saving mom."

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Stab him in the fucking leg, so we'd get off and save her! You had his blade."

"And then what?" Ryan rasped irritated, "We'd all die, and either way we would not save mom!"

"A soldier's duty is to save the lives of as many as he can in case of a crisis! Isn't that what the fucking book you used to read so much said?" Eren roared "He is supposed to protect everyone. By killing that thing, he could have saved all of us."

"Mom's legs were trapped by the debris, even if he did kill that thing and we got her out we would have been slowed down and she was not going to let us get killed because of her, mothers are crazy that way Eren, she wasn't going to let us die because of her, in an instant she decided that it was better us than her."

"Fuck that!" He yelled "There were several ways, Hannes could have carried her and Mikasa, you and I could have run! You're only saying that because you didn't see what happened! You didn't see mom die in front of you!"

Suddenly Ryan froze, and the truth dawned on him. Eren was right, he hadn't, his back was turned the whole time, he'd seen the blood fly onto his brother's face but he hadn't seen her get eaten. He'd just imagined the worst, he hadn't actually seen it. Eren had.

"She was snapped in two," He said, his voice sinking octaves lower. He clearly didn't want to remember that. "Then the titan ate her upper body first, he swallowed her body casually, much like you whenever you ate your last bite of smoked fish.

"The blood Ryan, it trickled down his lips and he licked it as if it were savoring the taste and couldn't get enough. Those damned bastards killed mom."

The winds howled, and Ryan closed his eyes. He clenched his fist and hit himself in the knee. Then he opened them again and right now he felt nothing but concern. Strangely, all he could bring himself to feel was concern for his little brother. He should have been angry, he should have been sad. He should have been shaking with rage. All he could think was this was taking a toll on his little brother and the tear troughs showed that he wasn't handling it well.

"I swear, I'll make the titans pay!" He yelled, "This isn't about breaking free anymore. It's about revenge!"

Ryan looked at his brother's face and suddenly understood. He balled his fist one last time and struck him painfully in the jaw, Eren staggered then upon regaining his balance stared into Ryan's face, and it was calm and composed.

It was obvious now, he was angry

"Eren," Ryan rasped "Mom gave her life for you, do you get that? She served as a fucking distraction so we could run, be safe, and live. I know you wish she were here. Believe me I do too, you are not the only one sleeping in puddles of your own tears. But mom isn't here and she wouldn't want you to succumb to rage and sadness. Pull yourself together.

"Now!" He roared

….

He poked at flame with a stick and sat back down. He had been cracking jokes for a long time but as usual his audience was indifferent, their eyes held incredible disinterest, and each person was scared of one thing or the other. But that girl who sat next to him had been staring at a picture with a look of horror for the entire length of time that they been here for.

"What's up with you?" He asked spinning his stick.

She stayed completely still.

"Your assignment?" He tried again

Silence.

"Why won't you talk to me?" He asked slightly irritated.

She looked straight at the picture. "I don't have anything to say, that's all"

…

 _ **Apologies, Apologies for not writing for so long. I am trying to get into college you see so I literally haven't had time and my school piles homework on me like they run my life. God it's been annoying. Give me feedback and once again, don't lie to me**_


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